THE WATCHMAKING PROCESS
What makes CB watches different?
A sailor mindset: do with what is onboard. We do with our own hands, our own tools, with what is locally available and what remains neutral for the environment.
No label, only concrete actions. Ideas are cooked at home: we spend time on real topics, we question our processes, we change, remove, we find solutions.
> how to source and transform our own 100% recycled stainless steel locally.
Repurpose, reuse, recycle: materials, components, tooling…
> using case tooling to produce dials with the same recycled metal, leftovers materials as raw material, old stock movement and standard crystals.
Long-term design and production: durable, resistant, repairable. Not fashionable.
> able to endure tough tool conditions, repairable components and open source plans, timeless design and proportions.
Less is better: chemicals, tooling, energy, materials.
> galvanic treatments, acid, inks, renewable energy sources, design for less machining, same tools for different parts, recycled and recyclable metals.
Local: all the components that cannot be produced in-house are sourced mainly in Switzerland, sometimes from close Europe.
No battery. No network. No update.
Only mechanical
Traditional watches seem outdated in a technological era... yet they embody the archetypal sustainable product: able to work for decades without artificial energy. Technical, not technological.
Repairable. Never obsolete. Work forever.
CB watches started in 2006 and raised in 2020.
GOOD THINGS TAKE TIME
In 2006, the will of producing more sustainable watches did not find a way in an opulent industry focused on marketing, communication, ambassadors and perpetual novelties. Nothing was ready to consider environmental topics and the mindset to work on them.
CB raised in late 2020. First, because environmental issues were clearer in people’s mind, then thanks to Watchangels’ ability to question their own production processes.
The watchmaking industry is ready to evolve.
The illusion of greenwashing
A project with environmental guidelines deals with more constraints. Most of them can be made up with outsourced solutions; labels, carbon capture, tree planting or new technologies. However most of them are screens to artificially decrease the carbon footprint or show a virtuous corporate image. Environmental businesses.
We think that every action starts from within, that's why we believe in durable and reliable products and why we choose carefully our production processes, our suppliers and our rare partnerships.
THE MAKER
From a young age Cedric Bellon was fascinated by sciences, nature and crafts. He first studied geology and then laureated in product design at « L’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique », France. Then he discovered watch design and worked on personal concept-watches.
Soon some watch brands such as Bell & Ross, TAG Heuer and Longines gave him a chance and became his first clients. From then on he was hooked by horology and made watch design his full-time career in 2005.
He founded CB watches in 2020.
Cedric Bellon is a watch industry sustainability advocate and a member of the GPHG (Foundation of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève).